Insurance

Many people think of insurance as an expense. Instead, we need to shift our focus and understand that insurance truly is the missing asset class. It is easy to confuse the value and the cost of insurance, it does cost money, after all. However, specifically thinking of life insurance, and even more specifically cash value life insurance, there are numerous ways you can make this asset work for you and your family.

Cash value life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance that has a cash value savings component. The cash value of this kind of life insurance policy can be used in a number of ways including:

• Tax-free retirement income
• Benefits for chronic, critical, and terminal illnesses
• College funding
• Tax-free death benefits to provide for your family
• Tax-Free death benefits to offset estate tax issues
• Continue your legacy into future generations
• Pay policy premiums
• Some policies have unlimited withdrawals

Equity Index Annuities and Fixed Annuities can grow and protect your investments and provide income for the rest of your life. A bold but true statement. An equity-indexed annuity is a kind of fixed annuity but has key distinctions from the rest in its class, primarily that its interest yield return is based partially on an equities index. These types of Annuities appeal to investors who like the idea of an investment return while still having protection against market risk.

Annuities are a key component of a diversified retirement portfolio. They ensure that your retirement income is protected even when investments underperform. There are few other financial products that provide a lifetime of protected income like annuities can.

^{Index annuities are insurance contracts that, depending on the contract, may offer a guaranteed annual interest rate and some participation growth, if any, of a stock market index. Such contracts have substantial variation in terms, costs of guarantees and features and may cap participation or returns in significant ways. Any guarantees offered are backed by the financial strength of the insurance company, not an outside entity. Investors are cautioned to carefully review an index annuity for its features, costs, risks and how the variables are calculated.}